Vacant Rio seats down to no-shows, say Olympics organisers

Rio 2016 organisers insisted on Wednesday they have not been fabricating ticket sales numbers, blaming empty seats on people with tickets simply not turning up.

Vast swathes of empty seats being beamed all over the world into people's homes have been a major source of embarrassment for organisers, particularly with some events seemingly sold out and no tickets available to buy on the official website.

Track and field has been a particular source of humiliation with the 60,000-seat stadium appearing no more than a third full on Tuesday evening despite men's 110m hurdles, high jump and women's 1500m gold medals being decided.